


More than a Just a Sympathetic Ear (Xc)

by Waldo



Series: The Human Body [12]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Ending, Angst, Episode: s02e14 Grace Under Pressure, First Time, Other, Threesome, Threesome Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-09-03
Updated: 2006-09-03
Packaged: 2017-10-06 02:41:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waldo/pseuds/Waldo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John can't let Radek suffer alone.  Carson has a solution.</p>
            </blockquote>





	More than a Just a Sympathetic Ear (Xc)

**Author's Note:**

> I have a very, very awesome beta team who made this eminently more readable. [](http://www.livejournal.com/users/kyrdwyn/profile)[**kyrdwyn**](http://www.livejournal.com/users/kyrdwyn/) and [](http://www.livejournal.com/users/ladykoori/profile)[**ladykoori**](http://www.livejournal.com/users/ladykoori/) tackled this one. In fact, I think Koori was about to tackle me if I wrote any slower. So the fact that this is finally done can be credited to her.
> 
> This is the **AU** to the _Grace Under Pressure_ chapter. Basically, in part A I set up a poor miserable Radek and then send him off to cry into his pillow and John went home to Carson in part B. Then I got to thinking... what if John just couldn't let him be miserable all by himself? So the structure is something of a choose-your-own-adventure. You read [Part A](http://smallwaldo.livejournal.com/18409.html) and when you get to the bottom of the page you can either read part B or part C. The first few paragraphs of both parts are the same. The rest of the Human Body series will take [Part B](http://smallwaldo.livejournal.com/18484.html) as it's canon. The series is not going to turn into a regular threesome. This was just a foray into something new for me as a writer.

He ducked back inside and made his way to the infirmary. Just as the door slid open he realized that it might look a bit odd for him to be chasing down Carson at one in the morning.

"Can I help you, Colonel?" the night duty nurse asked from the cabinet she was restocking.

"Uh… just came down to check on McKay," he answered lamely.

"He's asleep. Finally. Doctor Beckett didn't want to give him a sedative after a head injury, but he seems to have finally wound down on his own." She cast a glance to the other end of the ward towards Rodney's bed, where John could see him curled up, sleeping soundly.

He nodded. "Beckett's not still on duty, is he?" John hoped to come off as casual, but wasn't sure. And wasn't a hundred percent sure he cared at that point either.

"No, he left a little over an hour ago. Actually he said something about checking on you and Dr. Zelenka."

John raised his eyebrows and said casually. "Did he? I'll have to catch him later." And before she could answer that, he turned on his heel and left. She didn't need to know that for him, 'later' was the approximately three and a half minutes it would take him to reach Carson's quarters.

Odds were good that after a full shift, made longer by treating Rodney once they'd finally gotten him home, that Carson was already dead to the world. So John opened the door without knocking and then stood in the doorway, letting the hallway light spill in and give him an idea of where things stood.

The light barely made it to the bed, but John could see a distinctly human shaped lump under the covers and Carson's laptop, usually playing music or a DVD when Carson was awake, was closed on the small desk on the other side of the room.

He stepped in, letting the door close behind him and waited for his eyes to adjust to the small amount of moonlight and ambient city light coming in through the window. Once he could make his way across the sparsely furnished room without banging his shins on anything, he stepped over to the small bathroom and shut the door behind him before turning on the lights at half power.

He pulled off his jacket and t-shirt and quickly washed his face before making a quick pass over his neck, chest and arms with the cloth. He pulled off his boots and tucked his socks into them before putting them under the sink pedestal and then hung his pants with his t-shirt and jacket on the hook next to the door.

He turned off the lights and crept over to the bed in just his boxers. Before he could crawl in, Carson muttered, "John? That you?"

Sheppard froze in place. "It damn well better be. If you have other people sneaking in here at night to crawl in bed with you, we need to have a talk."

There was just enough light for him to see Carson smiling against his pillow. "If I'd thought it'd been anyone else, I'd be going for that blasted gun you insist I keep in here."

John pulled the covers back and slid under them, spooning up against Carson's back. "Good."

Carson shuffled over to face him. "Where've you been?" he asked quietly. Then suddenly he realized that he sounded like he was nagging or being distrustful, "I mean… not that you have to tell me… I just meant…"

John leaned in and kissed him to stop the stammering. "Mostly I was out on a balcony talking to Radek. Then just… decompressing."

Carson nodded and found John's hand with his own, threading their fingers together and bringing their joined hands between their chests. "Radek seemed a little rattled earlier. Is he alright?"

"If you call having an unrequited crush blow up in your face 'alright', he's great," John answered.

"Crush?"

"He doesn't want anyone saying anything or trying to be 'helpful', so… you know, keep that in mind. 'Cause it's _my_ ass he'll kick."

Carson nodded. "Alright."

"He has a thing for Rodney."

Carson flopped back against the pillows. "Oh dear. I knew they were close friends, I didn't know that he…" Rodney was one of his dearest friends, but Carson couldn't imagine trying to be in a relationship with someone that self-centered. He couldn't imagine that anyone would be able to get Rodney's attention to start a relationship with him with anything less subtle than a brick to the head, for one. And he had a hard time imagining Radek being willing to take such a risk. Not given how close they'd still have to work together after such an attempt if didn't pan out.

John shifted so that he was lying along Carson's side. "Yeah. That's one of the things I was thinking about outside tonight." He brushed a hand across Carson's cheek. "I don't take you for granted, do I?"

Carson tilted his head, studying John in the moonlight, wondering where all the introspection had come from. "I've never once thought that."

"'Cause Radek asked tonight… apparently Rodney's started to do the math, and so I told him - Radek. You know, about us. And the more we talked the more I realized that I could very easily have been in his place." John stroked his thumb over Carson's cheek and leaned down to kiss him for a long time, as passionately as he knew how.

"Hm…" Carson moaned into the kiss. "I think we need to stop talking about Radek now."

"Sorry, he just seemed so… miserable. You didn't see him out on that balcony." John tried to push the other man out of his mind and focus on what Carson was trying very hard to start, but the wrong blue eyes, full of tears, and no longer shielded by glasses haunted him. John didn't even realize he was pushing Carson's hand away.

Giving up, at least for the moment, Carson turned onto his side and snuggled up to John, sliding one arm under his head and wrapping the other around his waist. He kissed his neck to show that he wasn't mad. "He was a bit of a mess, was he?"

John nodded against Carson's arm. "There were a few seconds where I was genuinely scared that he was on that balcony with a mind to jump over the railing. Scared me worse than being two thousand feet under the ocean today. Then I had _him_ trying to keep _my_ ass alive. I wasn't sure I'd be able to do the same for him."

Carson sat up alarmed, dislodging John somewhat rudely. "Did he say he was suicidal?"

John rolled onto his back, tugging Carson back down on to his chest. "No. It was just… God, I've never seen someone so damn lonely and miserable."

Carson reached up and stroked John's hair. "You're very fond of him, aren't you?"

John rolled his eyes. "He's a nice guy. He deserves better than having a crush on someone as clueless as McKay."

"We can't help who we have feelings for," Carson told him, still toying with John's hair.

"Guess not," John said despondently.

"You're still worried about him?" Carson asked when John made no move to end the conversation one way or another.

"He was in tears when I found him and tears again when he ran off. He asked me to leave him alone, but I don't know if that was really the best thing for him."

Carson rolled up to sit on the edge of the bed, reaching for his pants and shirt on the back of the nearby chair. "Come on then, let's go check on him."

John rolled up so that he was sitting on the other side of the bed, his back to Carson, "I'm sorry, I just…"

Carson finished zipping up his pants and went and sat next to John, turning to get both arms around John's waist. "Do you really think I'd be angry that you're worried for a friend?"

"He was scared to death in that jumper. I was so proud of him for doing as well as he did, but I can't imagine what coming back here just to have McKay yell at him for it all must have done to him."

Carson went into the bathroom and retrieved John's clothes. "Let's go find him. Make sure he's okay. If it doesn't seem like a good idea to leave him on his own, we can bring him back here for the night."

John paused in pulling on his pants, remembering how he'd instinctively reached for Radek, begun rubbing his back without thinking about it. It wouldn't have been out of left field for Radek to think it was prelude to something else. "What if he gets the wrong idea?"

Carson came up behind him, wrapping his arms around John's bare waist. "Would that be so bad? You certainly seem quite taken with him. And it sounds like maybe he could use some… companionship."

John knew he should have been more amazed than he was by Carson, of all people, suggesting a threesome with Radek Zelenka. He turned in Carson's arms. "Is it what you want?"

"Well, until just now, I'd never really thought about it. And I have no idea what he'll say, so it could be a moot point, but…" Carson shrugged. He wasn't sure how to tell John that while he thought having Radek with them would be good for both Radek and John, he wasn't trying to change the overall dynamic of their relationship.

John was quiet, clearly thinking it over.

Carson reached up, smoothing some of the wilder hairs on John's head. "I'm not saying that this needs to be a permanent arrangement, or that I'm not completely happy with the way things are with us. But it sounds like, for tonight, this may be a good idea."

John shook his head, trying to change the paradigm in his head. To go from finding Radek and sitting him down with a shot of whiskey, to finding Radek and saying, 'So, threesome?' But Carson was right. Radek needed to feel valuable. Wanted. He'd been very receptive to John's touch earlier and he was aware of the situation between Carson and himself. "Well, I suppose we'll never know what he thinks, if we don't go find him." John grabbed his t-shirt and yanked it on.

"John," Carson called as John finished getting dressed and headed for the door. When John turned back he asked quietly, "This _is_ what you want, isn't it?"

John stopped thinking about it for a minute. He certainly didn't want to string Zelenka along, god knew the poor guy had things rough enough, but if they could help him get through a tough night? "Yeah. It is. We'll follow his lead. He may think we're both nuts."

Carson smiled. "Aye, that he might. And he may well be right."

&lt;{*}&gt;

They'd been pressing his doorchime for going on five minutes, and had started debating whether or not it was a justified use of Carson's medical override, when Radek came around the corner. Radek stopped in his tracks, blinking at them through his glasses.

John saw him first, "Hey Radek, we were looking for you."

Radek nodded slowly. "I see that. But… why? It is…" he looked down at his watch, "almost two in the morning."

Carson moved towards him slowly, "I heard Rodney ranting earlier … John said you're having a rough night of it. We just wanted to see that you're okay."

Radek closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. "I apologize for keeping you up." He wasn't sure what else to say.

"Screw it, we're all up and Carson has good booze. Come on," John said reaching over to put a hand between Radek's shoulders and propelling him down the hall.

Already moving in the direction John steered him, Radek looked back to where Carson was trailing them. "Carson, are you sure -?"

"Of course I am. And John's right, there's no point drinking at all if you're not drinking good Scotch."

Radek smiled weakly at him and let John steer him the rest of the way to Carson's quarters. As Carson went to the cupboard near the window, John shoved the blankets to one side and sat Radek on the edge of the bed. "Sit here. I'll get my shoes off and finish what I started outside."

To numb to do anything else, Radek complied.

John climbed up behind him, his legs on either side of Radek and he began to work at the tension that had reappeared in Radek's shoulders. He was still wondering how the whole subject of possible sex would come up. Every time he tried to script it out in his head, it came out sounding like bad porn. He was pretty sure both Carson and Radek would laugh their asses off at most of the scenarios he came up with.

"Here we are," Carson said as he handed Radek a small tumbler with a few fingers of Scotch in it. Between Radek's fatigue and the conversation John and he had had about where this night could potentially lead, he didn't want him to have too much, but the lad seriously needed to relax.

"Thank you." Radek craned his neck around to see John and then looked back to Carson, "Both of you. Truthfully I was still wandering around so late because I could not face being alone in my room tonight. My mind will not stop going over and over events of the day."

John slid his arms around Radek's chest, hugging him lightly, resting his chin on Radek's shoulder. "We kind of figured. You could have come looking for us, you know."

Radek shrugged, trying to surreptitiously glance over where Carson was sitting on the sofa seeing if he'd object to the way John was sitting with him… was… holding him. He prayed Carson would understand, because it felt good to be touched. And he desperately hoped that John wouldn't have done so if he thought Carson would object, but he was equally afraid of starting an argument between them.

After a few seconds Carson glanced up from the few drops of Scotch he was nursing and saw the concern on Radek's face. "Relax Radek, he's the touchy-feely sort, I've long gotten used to it. You're free to elbow him somewhere important if it bothers you, however."

Radek felt himself blush to his toes. "It does not. Bother me, that is."

Deciding to just take the plunge since the topic was on the verge of being breeched anyway, John ran his hands gently up and down Radek's biceps. "Do you want to stay with me and Carson tonight?" He hoped Radek would understand the full implications of the question. When he put his arms back around his chest, John could feel Radek's heart pounding.

After a second Radek laughed. "I am sorry. I am very tired, for a minute I thought… I thought you were asking me to… Oh, I must be not thinking clearly."

Carson moved from the sofa to stand in front of Radek. "You understood well enough," Carson told him reaching down to lightly stroke his cheek. "If it's what you want. If not, no harm done."

John could feel Radek flush as he realized what he'd been offered and that the choice was solely his.

Radek looked back and forth between them, trying to figure out what to say; what he felt. His first reaction was to say 'of course not, he'd never come between two friends.' But the mental image of being between his two friends was making him reconsider. They had come to him, so clearly they _did_ want him and they were both there making the offer, so it wasn't as if he'd be interfering in their relationship. But he still found it difficult to simply say 'yes, I'd love to have sex with you.' So he carefully calculated his words to see if he could get one of them to say it for him. "I've never done something like this before."

Carson knelt down in front of him, reaching up to brush Radek's long hair out of his face. "It's alright; neither have I." Carson glanced up to John, silently letting him know it was time for him to put his two cents in.

John sighed theatrically. "Yeah, okay, I have, but only a few times. Okay?"

"A few times?" Carson teased.

"Look, I've spent my life in large groups that are disproportionately men. Okay? Sometimes stuff just… look are we gonna… you know, or what?"

Carson smiled at Radek. "I do believe we have him thoroughly flustered. Good on ya." He then stood up, kissing John to take away the sting of the tease. As he pulled back he tilted Radek's head up and gently kissed his lips.

Radek shuddered in John's arms. "Oh…"

As Carson helped Radek off with his shirt, John mentally dimmed the lights. Not enough that they'd poke someone's eye out, but enough to give the room ambiance, a sense of privacy.

Once Carson had draped Radek's shirt over the sofa, John put his arms around Radek again; this time around his belly, his hands drifting over the skin on Radek's sides. He leaned in to gently kiss and nip at the junction of his neck and shoulder, where he'd been massaging both outside and when they'd come in.

Radek was swaying in John's arms. The combination of fatigue, adrenaline, a little bit of alcohol and a little more lust causing him to list to the side. Carson leaned in and kissed him again. "I think you need to lay down."

Radek nodded shakily, but made no move to actually leave John's arms.

"Come on," John whispered, sliding back on the bed and pulling Radek with him. When he'd gotten Radek laid out in the middle of the bed, he held his arm out, gesturing for Carson to join them on the bed.

Carson came around and sat behind John, pulling John's shirt up and off and running his hands over John's chest. "I suppose you'll both think me incredibly kinky if I say I could probably get off just sitting back and watching the two of you."

Radek flushed again, and this time Carson had the pleasure of watching it spread down his chest as well as up over his face.

John turned away from Radek, stripping Carson's shirt off and without pausing grabbing his pants and undoing the fly as quickly as he could with one hand. The other was threaded through Carson's hair while his tongue twisted around Carson's heatedly. "No way. Not fair."

Carson wasn't sure exactly what John found unfair about the situation, but he was too busy kissing John back to ask.

John swatted Carson's butt. "Come on, get these off."

"My, aren't we the seductive one tonight?" he asked, even as he stood to do exactly what John requested. He left his pants and boxers in a heap next to the bed.

"Much better," John whispered as he pulled Carson around and down on to the bed.

Carson maneuvered around until he was stretched out next to Radek. He ran a hand down over Radek's side until he hit Radek's waistband. He slid his hand into the loose trousers, circling back until he could get his hand under the elastic of Radek's briefs and cup his ass, skin to skin.

John sat above them, watching. If asked that morning, he would have never _ever_ have imagined his day ending like this. Hell, at several points while under a rather large quantity of ocean, he was just glad his day hadn't ended prematurely. Now he was watching Carson, who was clearly used to getting clothes off of prone people who weren't helping, wiggle Radek's pants down to his knees. Carson wiggled right on down with them, kissing and nipping Radek's chest as he went. John's head hit the wall above the bed with a thunk.

He was fisting himself tightly through his pants when he saw Carson take Radek's cock into his mouth without any hesitation. He stood up and finished stripping off his clothes, tossing them in the vague direction of the sofa, but not really looking to see where they landed. He then moved to the end of the bed and finished stripping off Radek's pants and socks. He had expected to get nervous once they were all finally naked, but found it oddly calming. Like they'd reached a point of no return and he didn't have to worry that someone had misunderstood or was thinking of backing out.

Radek was moaning in Czech under Carson. John crawled back onto the bed and managed to get Radek a bit more onto his side so that he could spoon up behind him without dislodging Carson.

John let his hands slide up and over Radek's side and chest, over his thighs and around to cup his ass. He watched as Carson teased Radek with his lips – bringing him higher, but, John knew from experience, not letting him get even close to coming. John took the hint. Carson wanted to draw this out, show Radek how much they wanted him there, wanted him to be with them that night.

Radek's eyes were screwed shut, and John realized that he was still wearing his glasses. He tapped on the temple gently, "Can I put these on the table before they get broken?"

Radek nodded vigorously, but if there were any words in his mumbling, they certainly weren't in English.

John took Radek's glasses off, carefully folding the earpieces and setting them on the bedside table. As he set them down he remembered what was in the drawer of that table. He stretched backwards, twisting, groping blindly until he claimed his prize and slammed the drawer shut.

Carson and Radek didn't even seem to notice.

John shoved the lube under the pillow so it would be handy later.

He lay back down with them, his hands sliding over Radek's chest and shoulders again as Carson continued to torment him. He watched over Radek's shoulder as Carson sucked on one of Radek's testicles. John realized that if he wanted to take this to its ultimate conclusion, he was going to have to do it soon.

He let one hand drift down to Radek's ass, his fingers gently pressing and probing until he found Radek's opening. He felt the little shivers that ran up Radek's spine when he carefully traced the tight ring of muscle. "Do you want me inside you?" he whispered into Radek's ear.

"Ano, ano… oh…"

John backed off. "Okay…" He blinked trying to figure out where he'd gone wrong.

After a second Radek was stretched around to try and see him. "What? Why did you stop?"

John shook his head in confusion. "You said, 'no'."

Radek's head hit the bed with a thump. "My apologies. _Ano_, it means 'yes'. I will try to stay in English." His speech was stilted and punctuated with breathy moans and sharp inhalations as Carson refused to let their little conversation interfere with his plans.

John brightened. "Oh!" He leaned in to kiss Radek quickly before fumbling under the pillows for the lube. "In that case…" He kissed him again.

"Are you two quite done talking?" Carson asked, peering up Radek's body, giving John an impatient look.

"Oh yeah. Done talking," John repeated, reaching around to grab the lube. He got Radek to tip up onto his side, without dislodging Carson, who seemed quite intent on making sure Radek only _thought_ he was going to come before John got inside him.

John popped the cap off the lube and squeezed a small puddle into his hand, warming it quickly before spooning against Radek and starting to open him. He found himself carefully observing Radek as he slid his finger in. In some respects, things between himself and Carson had become second-nature, but he was highly aware that this wasn't Carson he was getting ready to fuck. Radek made different sounds, moved differently, reacted differently to the way John touched him. John found it incredibly hot.

It took a little searching, but John finally found Radek's prostate, and by sheer coincidence, brushed it just as Carson sucked hard on the tip of his cock. John laughed at the way Radek fisted the sheets as his body arced. John was afraid for a minute that he'd come but after a second he could hear Radek practically begging, "Yes. Now. Now, I am almost…"

John took pity on him and entered him slowly, in one long, steady thrust. John was never a big fan of trying to screw while on his side, so he tapped Carson's shoulder and nodded him out of the way so he could get Radek over on his front. Carson slid to the other side of the bed, a huge smile on his face as he watched John get Radek up onto his knees.

Carson stroked himself lazily as John gripped Radek's hips and proceeded to give him what he was clearly waiting for.

Radek's eyes were screwed shut and he had his head mashed into the pillow. Carson wondered briefly if he weren't imagining Rodney. He stroked Radek's hair back, feeling badly for the man even as he was being fucked by someone who, Carson knew first hand, was really good at it. He began peppering Radek's cheek and forehead and ear with light little kisses as Radek's breath sped up. He looked up to see John flushing and sweating and his breath hitching as well, and Carson knew that they'd both be coming in a matter of seconds. He wrapped his arms around Radek's shoulders and held him as he shuddered through his orgasm. He pet his hair and kissed his face as he flopped onto the mattress, John collapsing on top of him, just barely holding up enough of his own weight to not crush Radek.

After catching his breath, John rolled to the side, keeping Radek between himself and Carson. With his arm stretched across Radek's waist, he pushed Carson's hand off his cock and began quickly jerking Carson off. They'd been together long enough for him to know what tricks were fool-proof, especially as close as Carson seemed to be after watching him and Radek.

Carson stretched across to hold on to John's shoulder as John pumped him, the lube left on his hand making it just that much better. He felt Radek's hand slide over hip and stroke his arse and that was his undoing. He felt both John and Radek holding him close as he came. He suddenly understood why some people got all worked up about having two bed-partners. He collapsed against Radek. "That was incredible."

He smiled as he heard general mumbles of agreement from the others, neither of which seemed to have the energy to actually form a whole word, let alone a whole statement.

They lay tangled together, cooling and recovering for a long while. Finally, ever the pragmatist, Carson suggested that Radek and John go shower while he changed the sheets.

Radek was completely wasted as he let John pull him too his feet. Carson couldn't help but get up and reach over and try to tame the wild hair that was sticking up everywhere. He kissed him softly before tapping him on the bottom and sending him to the shower. Between fatigue and post-coital buzz, Radek weaved as he stumbled off for the bathroom, squinting, but not bothering to ask for his glasses. John finally took pity on him and steered him into the bathroom by the shoulders.

Carson laughed as he collapsed onto the end of the bed, using the end of the sheet to wipe his chest off. He smiled to himself. He'd enjoyed that far more than he'd expected to. Not that he ever saw sleeping with Radek or sharing John a hardship, but he hadn't expected to find it as erotic as it was. He wondered what it would mean for the three of them. Would this segue into something more regular for all of them? Or did they accidentally lead Radek on?

He decided to listen to his own post-coital buzz and let the heavy stuff wait until morning. He hauled himself off the bed and proceeded to strip off the sheet and chuck it in the hamper. He replaced it with a fresh one and tossed the pillows back on the bed. He laid the blanket and comforter on somewhat haphazardly, knowing it was ridiculous to set the bed at that point.

He could still hear the water running in the bathroom. He hoped the two of them would hurry up. He could use a little cleaning up too, and he was really, really tired now. He glanced over at the clock. Nearly five. He had an afternoon shift, but he wasn't sure when John or Radek needed to be anywhere. He thought about putting them both on temporary medical leave. No one would question it after the day the two of them had. They both really needed the sleep.

Before he could do anything, the bathroom door whooshed open and John was steering Radek back over to the main part of the living quarters again. "About time you two finished. I would have thought you'd not want to see any more water than was absolutely necessary today." He kissed them both in turn as he wandered off to the shower.

The door hissed open and shut again before he could turn the water on. When he turned around he found John leaning against the sink. "Something wrong?"

John moved up and pulled Carson into his arms. "I just kind of feel like maybe Radek and I got a little wrapped up in each other and you got left out."

Carson kissed John's neck. "Tonight wasn't about me. It was about the two of you. If I could bring you two together when you needed each other, then I certainly got something out of it."

John hugged Carson tight against his body. "I can't believe you're this cool with all this. I thought for sure you'd … I don't know, draw a line somewhere."

Carson shrugged. "Are you planning to leave me for him?"

John's eyes bugged out. "Of course not, I –"

Carson cut him off with a kiss. "Then I have nothing to be upset about. And Radek's lovely, nothing to complain about there."

John shook his head, his head spinning. He would never know how he got so lucky, but he vowed silently to never take Carson for granted. "I owe you. I owe you huge."

Carson grinned. "Mm… maybe." He knew he'd be a fool to not take advantage of John feeling like he owed him a favor. "But for now I really need to go clean up. Why don't you go see if Radek's fallen asleep yet?"

John kissed Carson hard. "Okay. But hurry up."

Carson smiled after him. "I will."

 

John came back out and collapsed onto the bed, flat on his back, his towel dried hair askew. He lay back relaxing for a minute before he realized Radek wasn't joining him. He held his head up to see what the problem was. He found Radek pulling his clothes off the sofa. "Sleep in your boxers?" John asked without moving.

"What?" Radek asked as he shook out his blue shirt and lay it over the back of the couch.

John caught a clue. "Hey, you don't think you're leaving, do you?" He wished Carson would get out of the shower and help him deal with this.

Radek smiled sadly. "I appreciate what you have both done for me, but I know that I am not a… a part of this." He looked even sadder than when John had found him on the balcony.

John sat up and scooted to where he could grab Radek's elbow. Radek was in his briefs and t-shirt when he let John sit him down on the bed. "Look… we can talk in the morning about what this will end up meaning, but this wasn't… I don't know what you thought it was. It wasn't a pity fuck, it wasn't an experiment… We both care about you a lot. There are a lot of people who've had bad days on the expedition, but we've never invited them into bed with us before. You're important to us. Whatever this leads to – or doesn't - that's not going to change."

Radek was sniffling and trying to be inconspicuous as he wiped his eyes on the back of his hand. "I'm sorry. I do not know how… I do not know how this is supposed to work."

John shrugged, "Me either. But we'll figure it out together, okay?" John grabbed a tissue off the bedside table and wiped Radek's eyes. He tossed the tissue back on the table and pulled Radek into a tight hug. He was a little surprised when he felt Carson's arms come around them both.

"John's right, you know. We'll need to talk tomorrow. And maybe more than that. But right now we're all very, very tired and the best thing we can do is all three of us crawl under these covers and go to sleep." Carson pulled Radek's face down and kissed his lips gently before helping him pull his shirt back off. "Alright?"

So many thoughts crowded Radek's head. He couldn't believe that as bad as the day had been – Rodney's jumper going down, having to go under two-thousand feet of water to get him and then getting chewed out for it happening in the first place – that it would have ended like this. That in the same day he found out that the person he had wanted had found him incompetent and useless, that two others had found him important and desirable. So much so that they were willing to bring him into what he had seemed to be a very happy, stable relationship the way it was. He felt the lump in his throat swell as he tried to answer, but when words refused to come, he simply nodded and crawled in after Carson. John and Carson seemed to be orchestrating things so that he ended up in the middle again and he wondered why he'd ever been interested in McKay. He was quite certain that after sex, Rodney would have been rolled over, snoring and hogging the blankets before Radek had even caught his breath.

John had showered with him, holding him throughout and washing his back for him. Asking quietly if he'd been too rough or if Radek hurt anywhere. Carson had changed the sheets so no one got stuck with the wet spot, and now he was being shuffled between them to cuddle and sleep.

For the first time that day, as he snuggled against John's chest, with Carson curled around his back, he knew the few tears he shed, were of happiness.


End file.
